FIRE
by livin it loud and proud
Summary: Set Early season 3
1. Chapter 1

Carter had just come home from a 24 hour shift. To say he was exhausted would be an understatement – he could hardly keep his eyes open and his walking was suffering a lot. Finally, after much fumbling around, he found his apartment key and unlocked the door. He forced himself to walk the extra few feet to his bed. He quickly undressed, and put on a t-shirt and sweat pants. Then he settled down and was asleep within seconds.

He was awoken several hours later by the sound of a loud and persistent bell. He groggily sat up and looked at his alarm clock – it was 3.30 am. He hadn't set it for that time. Suddenly it registered in his brain. It was the fire alarm!

He thought of Betty and her cigarettes He could bet good money that she was the culprit. How many times had he warned not to light up around that oxygen tank? Why did she not listen? Now, it looked like a lot more than her life was at stake...

He grabbed a pair of shoes, and a coat, and ran to the door. The flames hadn't reached his floor yet. Thank God he was only on the first floor; he could easily jump out the window if necessary. He didn't think it would come to that though as Betty lived on the fourth floor. But what if it wasn't her? No, he couldn't think of that just now. He had to get out.

He opened the door and started sprinting down the hallway. Smoke engulfed him as he reached the stairs. "The kitchen" people were yelling. "It's coming from the kitchen". Carter nodded to no one in particular and continued running down the stairs, pressing his coat to his mouth to act as a barrier between him and the fumes.

When he came to the ground floor, he could see people screaming and running from the burning kitchen. He mustered all his remaining energy and ran from the burning building. When he was out, he collapsed on the ground, panting and coughing alternately.

"Are you ok, sir?" asked a fireman leaning over him. Carter nodded still panting. "I have to go back in – I'm a doctor, I can help".

"Lie still for a minute, sir" said the fireman soothingly. "Everyone else is fine. There was some sort of party going on the first floor. The whole building was there."

"Oh, I wonder who I slept through that."

"Beats me. Why weren't you there?"

"Night shift" said Carter, starting to cough. "Just got home ... tired".

"Let's get you checked out." said the Fireman. He helped Carter stand and sat him on a bench.

Carter started wheezing and coughing. He found that once he had started, he couldn't stop. He switched to doctor mode and quickly reasoned that he was suffering the effects of smoke inhalation. He knew that he needed oxygen and should get to a hospital so he could get a chest x-ray. He tried to communicate this to the Fireman but he was too weak to say anything.

"Tom" he said, beckoning over a man with a blackened face from the smoke.

"Call an ambulance please?" he asked quietly, so Carter wouldn't hear.


	2. Chapter 2

About half an hour later, Cater was wheeled out of the back of the ambulance and into the ambulance bay of County General. He had an oxygen mask on, but his breathing was still erratic and his eyes were closed. Mark Greene was waiting the paramedics to give him the bullet.

"Approximately 25 year old male. Caught in apartment fire. I think he was in there for about 10 minutes. resps 10, pulse 80, BP 90/50. No ID, but we recognise him from here. I think he's a doctor" the paramedic reeled off.

"OK" said Mark. "We got it from here." he nodded to the paramedics, who drow away.

"Let's get him into trauma 2" SAID Mark to Carol and Kerry who had just joined him.. ""Sir are you feeling any...CARTER?"

Carter opened his eyes immediately opened his eyes and let out a small groan, which was somewhat muffled by the oxygen mask.

"Please don't shout Mark" he said weakly, pulling the mask down. "My head is pounding." This statement was followed by a course of intense coughing, where upon Mark hastily pressed the mask on to Carter's face.

"Just breathe Carter, breathe" said Mark calmly. "We may have to intubate" he added to Kerry.

They continued to wheel Carter into trauma one.

"Sorry Carter" Mark said. "I just wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

Carter said nothing but glared at Mark in a way that plainly said he was not amused.

"Sats are coming up said Carol. "But his BP is through the roof, Mark check this out. Mark quickly looked at the monitor. Carol was right. Carter's BP was really.

"Damn it, it doesn't make any sense" said Mark more to himself than anyone else. He's too young for high blood pressure.

"Carter?" said Carol softly. "Do you have a history of high blood pressure?

"No" Carter said nervously removing his mask again. "What's going on?"

No one answered for a moment.

Kerry finally said, in a softer voice than usual "Look, John,. I know you're scared but we won't let anything happen to you. We're going to let you rest now."

"What about Benton" squeaked Carter as they were about to leave. He looked at his watch. "My next shift starts in a few hours. He'll be angry if I don't show up."

Mark chuckled "Don't worry about Benton. His bark is far worse than his bite.

Carol" he added. "Can you contact Carter's parents and tell Benton what has happened?" Carol nodded and ran out the door.

"Kerry?" Mark motioned for Kerry to follow him outside.

When they were out of earshot, he said "I don't really see any cause for alarm. It's just smoke inhalation. However, the high BP does concern me. I want to keep him in overnight for observation. I'd like to keep him in the ER because he knows all of us.

Kerry nodded. "You're right Mark. I'll get Malik to help us move him."

They went back into the room to tell Carter what they were going to do.

**AN: By the way, I don't have a clue where I'm going with this, so any comments/ reviews/ advice would be greatly appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thanks everyone for the reviews, they made me smile. So, I've decided to do my best for you and keep this story going.**

Mark and Kerry re-entered the room. Carter was nearly asleep, but he opened his eyes as soon as he heard Kerry softly say his name.

Mark cleared his throat, "we'll keep this brief Carter, I know how tired you must be. Alright, to be blunt we don't really know what's wrong with you. Malik is going to come and take you to radiology for a chest x-ray. It looks like a classic case of smoke inhalation, but one can never be too sure. After the x-ray, Malik will take you to Exam 3 where you'll spend the night, and we'll give you your results in the morning." Mark gave Carter an encouraging smile. "Any questions?"

Carter just stared at Mark and Kerry, dumbfounded. He then shook his head.

"Good" said Mark in a sing-song voice. "Well, here's Malik to take you to radiology. we'll see you in the morning." Mark gave Carter a pat on the back and Kerry told him everything would be ok, and they walked out.

Carter wasn't paying much attention as Malik helped him from the gurney into a wheelchair, and they zoomed down the corridor to radiology.

"All done!" the x-ray tech said 5 minutes later. he was talking like the worst was over, thought Carter, but it wasn't. There were still the results to come. all that was left to do now was for Carter to wait. He should probably go to sleep, but he wasn't tired anymore. he kept thinking of the worst case scenario... Lung cancer? TB? Cystic Fibrosis? All of these were highly unlikely, but Carter help but wonder...

Malik took him to Exam 3, and got him settled on the bed. "You ok, man?" said Malik. Carter nodded and smiled. He was scared that if he said anything he would vomit, and in any case, it hurt too much to talk. Malik put a nasal cannula on Carte to give him some extra oxygen, and started an IV. Carter didn't even flinch as the needle went into his arm.

"Listen man, I'm going off duty now, but if you need anything just press this button and it will go straight to the nurses' station ok?" Carter nodded again and Malik smiled and left.

Carter tossed and turned for most of what was left of the night. He must have fallen asleep at some point, however, because the next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by mark.

"Good morning" Mark smiled.

"Morning" Carter croaked back. Mark chuckled. He held up Carter's chest x-ray so he could see it.

"You have a Pneumothorax. we have to reinflate your lung. You may fallen when you were in the fire or have hit something with your chest. You probably don't remember. Anyway, let's get that pesky lung reinflated and you'll be out of here in no time."

So it wasn't cancer! Carter breathed a sigh of relief.


End file.
